Remember in school when you got back graded tests? If the teacher caught you peeking at your neighbor's score or heard you ask, "What did you get?" then you were likely advised to focus on your performance and to disregard others'.

In our industry that principle needs to be re-emphasized. Too many call center managers are trying to find out what everyone else is doing, rather than what's best for their organizations.

It's not hard to understand why. We're in a competitive industry. The topsy-turvy economy has led to shifts in strategy and operational objectives at many organizations. The changes have rendered industry surveys obsolete and left managers without a sufficient "gut" sense.

Call center directors and managers desperately want good information. They want to know where they stand; what they must do to surpass the competition; and which changes are cost-effective and will satisfy customers. In sum, they want facts upon which to base sound decisions.

That's fine. But call center managers need to think more rigorously about the information they use to evaluate performance and make critical business decisions. The choices they make, and the criteria by which they judge choices, must be consistent with their organization's strategic objectives.

Industry Standards?

The greatest clamor for information surrounds industry standards. Like so many knights setting off on medieval quests for the holy grail, call center managers are searching everywhere for a solution they call "industry standards." But let's look closely and see where the dragons are lurking, so you don't get burned.

There's a misconception about standards. Most questions we've heard about industry standards (e.g., what is the industry standard for first call resolution?) are really a way of asking, "What objectives should I set?" But a standard tells you what others, on average, are doing. If you want to know what to do, then asking about standards is the wrong question.

We've become obsessed in this industry with mass comparison. We survey and benchmark and publish averages, quartiles and percentages. Frequently, these numbers get proclaimed as "industry standards" that your call center should aspire to match.

This is reaching a fevered pitch while broad-based consumer and business surveys reveal that customers are, overall, not happy with service. The business press has had a field day with stories on unwieldy processes, long queues and poorly trained agents. The call center industry is not delighting customers; it's frustrating them. That's a serious problem for every call center that's looking to other call centers for standards. We need to raise the bar, not lock it where the public perceives it to be now.

To return to the school example, if you found that your classmates had grades of "C" and below, would you conclude that your goal should be to earn a "C+" or "B-"? When you read about industry averages or surveys, you're usually doing little more than peeking at someone else's test scores. Sure, it's interesting to see how you compare, but don't base business decisions on it.

Doing it Right

You need to establish objectives that support and further your organization's strategic direction. There's no alternative to thinking for yourself, both to identify the right questions and the answers that work. That puts the focus squarely on understanding how call center dynamics work. Consider some examples:

• Your service level objective may be lower than those for comparable organizations. But if you are diligent about measuring and achieving it every half hour - including Monday mornings - you may be ahead of the pack.

• Your center's average handling time (AHT) may be higher than the usual. But if you are using that time to prevent repeat calls, streamline processes and capture information that can improve products and marketing, your call load (AHT x number of calls) and associated costs may be better (less) than the norm.

• Your span of control may be different than the usual ten to 15 agents per supervisor. But if you have a team-oriented environment, experienced agents and low turnover, a higher span of control (more agents per supervisor) may make perfect sense. Alternatively, if you have a new or highly complex environment, and you need to provide more ongoing monitoring and coaching, a lower ratio may be best.

The examples can go on, for virtually every strategic and operational objective. The point: Arriving at sound decisions must win out over implementing industry norms. Learn all you can about establishing call center objectives, and how variables are interrelated. Develop a solid customer access strategy, tying it to your organization's strategic objectives. And set robust, consistent objectives that make sense. Don't mistake so-called industry standards for easy answers to your call center's most important questions.

What's "World Class?"

Recommendations derived from industry studies are often based on subsets of data that supposedly reflect "world class" performance or "best practices." Those who classify call centers as "world class" are not reflecting a consensus definition, but their ideas about what is best. And best practices are common practices by the time they are identified and published.

Researchers have put considerable thought into identifying top-performing call centers. Yet there's no agreement on the criteria by which to judge call centers. Researchers subjectively decide what's most important in evaluating performance.

And so should you! That's probably the best thing you can learn from studies of other organizations or industry benchmarks: You have to use your judgment when selecting measures that best fit your call center and your organization's strategic objectives.

To that end, examine what your organization wants to achieve. Build consensus and focus. And create call center processes and services that advance the organization's mission: Everything in the call center should be linked to your organization's strategy.

An important lesson that has emerged from our work with call centers is that outstanding call centers - those making the most significant contributions to their organizations' success - did not achieve exemplary levels of performance by reading benchmarking reports and imitating what they found. More often than not, they bucked the trend. If you feel as if you have been swimming against the tide, you might be heading in the right direction.

Take a Stand

It's time for true leadership. It's time for call center leaders to trust their knowledge of their organizations and customers. They must use that understanding to develop measures and objectives that uniquely and effectively address their goals and needs. That's the way to elevate this industry and earn it the respect and recognition it needs and deserves.

Remember in school when you got back graded tests? If the teacher caught you peeking at your neighbor's score or heard you ask, "What did you get?" then you were likely advised to focus on your performance and to disregard others'.

In our industry that principle needs to be re-emphasized. Too many call center managers are trying to find out what everyone else is doing, rather than what's best for their organizations.

It's not hard to understand why. We're in a competitive industry. The topsy-turvy economy has led to shifts in strategy and operational objectives at many organizations. The changes have rendered industry surveys obsolete and left managers without a sufficient "gut" sense.

Call center directors and managers desperately want good information. They want to know where they stand; what they must do to surpass the competition; and which changes are cost-effective and will satisfy customers. In sum, they want facts upon which to base sound decisions.

That's fine. But call center managers need to think more rigorously about the information they use to evaluate performance and make critical business decisions. The choices they make, and the criteria by which they judge choices, must be consistent with their organization's strategic objectives.

Industry Standards?

The greatest clamor for information surrounds industry standards. Like so many knights setting off on medieval quests for the holy grail, call center managers are searching everywhere for a solution they call "industry standards." But let's look closely and see where the dragons are lurking, so you don't get burned.

There's a misconception about standards. Most questions we've heard about industry standards (e.g., what is the industry standard for first call resolution?) are really a way of asking, "What objectives should I set?" But a standard tells you what others, on average, are doing. If you want to know what to do, then asking about standards is the wrong question.

We've become obsessed in this industry with mass comparison. We survey and benchmark and publish averages, quartiles and percentages. Frequently, these numbers get proclaimed as "industry standards" that your call center should aspire to match.

This is reaching a fevered pitch while broad-based consumer and business surveys reveal that customers are, overall, not happy with service. The business press has had a field day with stories on unwieldy processes, long queues and poorly trained agents. The call center industry is not delighting customers; it's frustrating them. That's a serious problem for every call center that's looking to other call centers for standards. We need to raise the bar, not lock it where the public perceives it to be now.

To return to the school example, if you found that your classmates had grades of "C" and below, would you conclude that your goal should be to earn a "C+" or "B-"? When you read about industry averages or surveys, you're usually doing little more than peeking at someone else's test scores. Sure, it's interesting to see how you compare, but don't base business decisions on it.

Doing it Right

You need to establish objectives that support and further your organization's strategic direction. There's no alternative to thinking for yourself, both to identify the right questions and the answers that work. That puts the focus squarely on understanding how call center dynamics work. Consider some examples:

• Your service level objective may be lower than those for comparable organizations. But if you are diligent about measuring and achieving it every half hour - including Monday mornings - you may be ahead of the pack.

• Your center's average handling time (AHT) may be higher than the usual. But if you are using that time to prevent repeat calls, streamline processes and capture information that can improve products and marketing, your call load (AHT x number of calls) and associated costs may be better (less) than the norm.

• Your span of control may be different than the usual ten to 15 agents per supervisor. But if you have a team-oriented environment, experienced agents and low turnover, a higher span of control (more agents per supervisor) may make perfect sense. Alternatively, if you have a new or highly complex environment, and you need to provide more ongoing monitoring and coaching, a lower ratio may be best.

The examples can go on, for virtually every strategic and operational objective. The point: Arriving at sound decisions must win out over implementing industry norms. Learn all you can about establishing call center objectives, and how variables are interrelated. Develop a solid customer access strategy, tying it to your organization's strategic objectives. And set robust, consistent objectives that make sense. Don't mistake so-called industry standards for easy answers to your call center's most important questions.

What's "World Class?"

Recommendations derived from industry studies are often based on subsets of data that supposedly reflect "world class" performance or "best practices." Those who classify call centers as "world class" are not reflecting a consensus definition, but their ideas about what is best. And best practices are common practices by the time they are identified and published.

Researchers have put considerable thought into identifying top-performing call centers. Yet there's no agreement on the criteria by which to judge call centers. Researchers subjectively decide what's most important in evaluating performance.

And so should you! That's probably the best thing you can learn from studies of other organizations or industry benchmarks: You have to use your judgment when selecting measures that best fit your call center and your organization's strategic objectives.

To that end, examine what your organization wants to achieve. Build consensus and focus. And create call center processes and services that advance the organization's mission: Everything in the call center should be linked to your organization's strategy.

An important lesson that has emerged from our work with call centers is that outstanding call centers - those making the most significant contributions to their organizations' success - did not achieve exemplary levels of performance by reading benchmarking reports and imitating what they found. More often than not, they bucked the trend. If you feel as if you have been swimming against the tide, you might be heading in the right direction.

Take a Stand

It's time for true leadership. It's time for call center leaders to trust their knowledge of their organizations and customers. They must use that understanding to develop measures and objectives that uniquely and effectively address their goals and needs. That's the way to elevate this industry and earn it the respect and recognition it needs and deserves.